Curried Potatoes with Poached Eggs

$5.39 recipe / $1.35 serving

Jet lag from my vacation has been hitting me hard, but I found the time in between naps yesterday to make it to the grocery and cook up a good meal to last me through the end of the week. I’ve had this idea for Curried Potatoes with Poached Eggs kicking around in the back of my head for a couple months now, so I decided it was the perfect no-brainer thing to make while I try to shake my brain out of vacation mode.

I love making quick tomato curry sauces because they’re super fast and provide tremendous flavor to anything (see Quick Curried Chickpeas). This time around I used potatoes as my inexpensive bulk ingredient and added eggs to provide protein and keep me full. A little fresh cilantro on top gives the dish a fresh note and balances the spicy curry (you can use mild curry powder if preferred). I poached my eggs in the sauce just to make things easier, but if you want a prettier presentation or more control over how the yolks are cooked, you can always fry up your eggs in a separate skillet and just lay them on top of the curried potatoes. Either way, the creamy yolk is awesome with that spicy and saucy curried potatoes. YUM! :D

Curried Potatoes with Poached Eggs

It only takes a few ingredients to make these simple and flavorful Curried Potatoes with Poached Eggs. Perfect for brunch or dinner.

Total Cost
$5.39 recipe / $1.35 serving

Prep Time10minutes

Cook Time30minutes

Total Time40minutes

Servings4

Ingredients

2russet potatoes (about 2 lbs.)$2.09

1inchfresh ginger$0.39

2clovesgarlic$0.16

1Tbspolive oil$0.16

2Tbspcurry powder (hot or mild)$0.60

15 ozcantomato sauce$0.89

4large eggs$0.76

1/2bunch fresh cilantro (optional)$0.34

Instructions

Wash the potatoes well, then cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Place the cubed potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Cover the pot with a lid and bring it up to a boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes for 5-6 minutes, or until they're tender when pierced with a fork. Drain the cooked potatoes in a colander.

While the potatoes are boiling, begin the sauce. Peel the ginger with a vegetable peeler or scrape the skin off with the side of a spoon. Use a small holed cheese grater to grate about one inch of ginger (less if you prefer a more subtle ginger flavor). Mince the garlic.

Add the ginger, garlic, and olive oil to a large, deep skillet (or a wide based pot). Sauté the ginger and garlic over medium low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until soft and fragrant. Add the curry powder to the skillet and sauté for about a minute more to toast the spices.

Add the tomato sauce to the skillet and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium and heat the sauce through. Taste the sauce and add salt, if needed. Add the cooked and drained potatoes to the skillet and stir to coat in the sauce. Add a couple tablespoons of water if the mixture seems dry or pasty.

Create four small wells or dips in the potato mixture and crack an egg into each. Place a lid on the skillet and let it come up to a simmer. Simmer the eggs in the sauce for 6-10 minutes, or until cooked through (less time if runny yolks are desired). Top with chopped fresh cilantro.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have a large deep skillet like mine, a wide pot will do the trick. Make sure your skillet or pot has a lid and is big enough to hold the potatoes.

Curried Potatoes with Poached Eggs

Step by Step Photos

Start by scrubbing two russet potatoes (about 2 lbs. total) to remove any dirt. Dice the potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes. (Mine were closer to one inch, but smaller is definitely better.)

Place the diced potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Put a lid on the pot and bring it up to a boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes for 5-6 minutes, or until they’re tender when pierced with a fork (the total cooking time will depend on the size of your cubes, so check them by poking with a fork. When the fork slides in easily, they’re done.) When they’re finished cooking, drain in a colander.

While the potatoes are cooking, you can begin the sauce. The sauce starts with my favorite duo: ginger and garlic! Mince two cloves of garlic and peel about one inch of ginger. You can use a vegetable peeler or the side of a spoon to scrape the skin from the ginger. Once peeled, use a small holed cheese grater to grate the ginger. I like ginger a lot, so I used about one inch, but it’s flexible.

Add the ginger and garlic to a deep skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until the ginger and garlic are a little softened and smell fragrant. If you don’t have a deep skillet like this, you can use a pot. Just remember, it needs to be big enough to hold all those potatoes later.

Next, add 2 Tbsp curry powder. This is the curry powder that I use and I like it quite a bit. You can use hot or mild. If you only have mild curry powder but want to make it hot, you can add a little cayenne pepper.

Add the curry powder to the skillet and continue to sauteé it with the ginger, garlic, and oil for another minute or so. This toasts the spices and amplifies their flavor.

Next add one 15oz. can of tomato sauce. If you live in a country that doesn’t have “tomato sauce”, you can use any puréed tomato product, although you may have to add salt to the sauce later.

Add the tomato sauce to the skillet, turn the heat up to medium, and let it heat through. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed (I didn’t add any, but it will depend on the tomato sauce you use).

Add the boiled and drained potatoes, then stir to coat them in the sauce. If it seems really thick and pasty at this point, add a couple tablespoons of water.

Make four little dips or wells in the curried potatoes, then crack a large egg into each one. Place a lid on the skillet and let it come to a simmer. Simmer the eggs for 6-10 minutes, or until cooked through (if you prefer a runny egg, let it simmer for less time). Alternately, you can fry the eggs in a separate skillet and just place them on top of the potatoes before serving.

This was simple to prepare and really tasty! This combined with the naan recipe turns it into enough for 5 or 6 meals, which I love because it means my husband and I can both take leftovers for lunch the next day.

We’ve made this several times and combined the “top tips” of other reviewers. Easy, feeds an army and reheats well.
~Usually boil potatoes a day in advance (or dice and roast for more texture) so we can assemble everything the night of super quick.
~Add a diced onion at start of saute part
~Add frozen peas and a can of chickpeas, sometimes even a diced carrot or whatever else is going off in fridge
~Decrease curry by half, taste test before adding more
~Add more tomato sauce, or some broth + tomato paste
~Don’t poach the eggs – just fry an over-easy an egg for each person’s plate upon serving. Makes leftovers more appealing. (Use Alton Brown’s method for perfect runny yolks).

I’ve made this a few times now, but I wanted to share my most recent adventure in making curried potatoes (I usually omit the egg).

I made your baked pumpkin pie oatmeal earlier in the week and had a (frozen) can’s worth of leftover pureed pumpkin, as my grocery store only had giant cans of pumpkin.

As I went to add the tomato sauce to the curry, I realized I had forgotten to buy the sauce. Panicking, I searched around for something tomato-y to substitute, but found nothing. So I took a risk and used the pumpkin puree, adding some salt and vinegar to make up for the lack of acidity and flavor difference.

It seemed horrifying to me at first, but it actually turned out really good! I was very pleasantly surprised. I’ll be enjoying the leftovers for lunch this week :).

Hi! I’m Beth

As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. Join me for delicious recipes designed for small budgets. More »